Solo spotlight: SEVENTEEN to release individual tracks in 'Happy Burstday' album
A refined and artistic performer, The 8 is known for his elegant stage presence, contemporary dance style, and a creative mind that bridges Eastern and Western influences
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Kr$na on mixtape ‘Yours Truly', and why India's obsession with Eminem needs to stop: ‘It isn't some kind of a benchmark'
The words DHH or 'Desi Hip-Hop' go hand in hand with an artiste like Kr$na. Born in Delhi, Krishna Kaul took to hip-hop like a fish to water. He boasts a multicultural background, as the streets of both India and the U.K. collaborated in the education of this young and brilliant mind. A mind that focused heavily on the fifth branch of hip-hop, knowledge, as he drew inspiration from Big E's mind-boggling cadence, Tech9's savage outlook and Redman's casual brilliance. But through his own projects, Kr$na has been proving to the world that he does not believe in emulating anyone and wants to create a space for himself among the plethora of sounds now rising from the Indian subcontinent. Different stage names, cameos in big-budget movies, and several bouts for the crown later, Kr$na has now come out with his latest mixtape, 'Yours Truly'. In an exclusive interview with SCREEN, the rapper talks about his new project, working with stars like Raftaar and Badshah, and how he refuses to conform to accepted practices about life, music and everything in the middle. Q. Congratulations on the album. So what kind of music are you listening to these days? I am listening to a lot of jazz these days; actually, jazz is what I hear when I am not working on my own music. Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Chet Baker, Sonny Rollins, all of that. Q. We have witnessed some major releases in this past year or so, and I talked to Yashraj about his mixtape and asked him about the 15 minutes prior to dropping a project. What was it like for you this time around, and what are you usually thinking before releasing a major project? Usually when I am close to a release, I try to distract myself, and I try to focus on something that is unrelated. The crazy part is that this mixtape dropped in India at 12 am, and we were in Bangkok, and we had just come back from a show in Cambodia. There it dropped at 1:30 am, and we were all trying so hard to stay awake till the release time because all of us were tired after the show. It's just easier to not think about the project around its release, and then when it's finally out, you can look at the reactions. Q. You had a song with Aitch in this mixtape, and we have been seeing an increase in the number of collaborations between Western and Indian acts? How has the nature of collaborations evolved over time, from the formative days of Indian hip-hop to what it is now? Earlier on, it was more inorganic in certain ways, and now because we have developed a value for ourselves as hip-hop artistes, Western acts take us more seriously. They know we have a market, and it works both ways now. It's not like they are doing us a favour by appearing on our tracks, and in many cases our numbers are bigger than theirs. The biggest difference is that we get more value, and we also give more value. It isn't a flex anymore to have a Western artiste on your track anymore. Q. How important do you think it is to have another artiste in the studio with you? How does that collaboration help, and how does that process work between two very different sounds? A solo artiste will always maintain that individuality, but when two separate artistes work on something together, there is a new energy exchange that occurs. My working method is super different from someone like Raftaar or Yashraj. I did a track with Yashraj in the mixtape, and we had that back and forth in the song. That kind of a track gives you a better peek into the other person and how they are working and vice versa. I did a track with Badshah, and it was like stepping into his world to do something he does better. When you put yourself in a position working with another artiste, you push yourself to find new ground, and that collaboration is important for one to evolve. Q. The 'cohesive album' with a set narrative wasn't very prevalent in India a few years back. How important do you think those kinds of projects are with regard to changing the way the Indian listener is consuming music? So I called this project a mix-tape for the reason that it isn't exactly working on a narrative that runs through all the songs. It has elements of cohesiveness, like the VOTP SKIT, which is weaving a thread that you can follow. I feel that whenever I release an album, it will be more put together, and while it does add value, I also think that it isn't some kind of a benchmark that needs to be met. I don't feel like the narrative-based album is the only way to create a project. You can make something like 'To Pimp A Butterfly' and something like 'Get Rich or Die Trying'. Having said that, hip-hop has opened up that window to the Indian audience, who weren't used to listening to projects that way. People are now listening to projects that have a story running through them from top to bottom, but we still have a long way to go. Q. How do you ground yourself after a project achieves huge numbers and motivate yourself to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch? It's a never-ending grind, to be honest. Once you have had a few songs that work and you go back to the drawing board, there are always a few questions. I know what works, and I know what doesn't, so should I continue doing what works, and then people start to say that 'we have already heard this'? You wonder whether you should take a risk or not, and that's where this mixtape originated from. I was thinking about my next move and what I wanted this project to sound like, and now that it's out there, I again find myself sitting with the same questions. One should not get caught up in the success or disappointment of something. As much as someone will say that they know how to make a hit, no one knows how to do it. Q. The music video for 'Knock-Knock' had a distinct Wes Anderson-like style. Tell me more about creators who inspire you from outside the sphere of music. Yeah, that was the idea behind the video, and the Wes Anderson aesthetic has always been pretty cool to me, and I wanted to bring it here with my music. There are other directors as well, like Tarantino or Guy Ritchie, and I love their movies, and hopefully one day we can take some inspiration from those and make something. I was just making this song, and this idea for the video just randomly popped into my head. Q. Do you think hip-hop should almost be treated like literature, and anyone who wants to understand the genre should be listening to everything under the sun, even from before their time? I 100% agree with that. This obsession in India with just Eminem needs to really go; he might have got you into the genre, but at the end of the day, he is just a part of a bigger thing. He pays homage to other artistes, and if you don't have the drive to go and explore the people who he is mentioning, like Redman or Run DMC, you are actually doing him an injustice. You ask any of these people if they actually listen to those people, and the answer more than often is 'no'. I try to listen to everyone I can to learn more because that is the way hip-hop should be handled. During our show in Cambodia, I met a guy who was working for the company that was managing the event, and he was from the Bay Area in the US. I told him names of Bay rappers, which he had never heard of in his life, and he was my age. Q. What are some of the prized possessions from the CD collection you have at home? I have Brother Lynch's 'Season of da Siccness'. I have a signed copy of 'Illmatic' by Nas, 'Ready to Die', '2Pacalypse Now', and honestly there are too many, and I can name the niche ones that I really love which nobody has, like Tech9's 'Absolute Power', and I got it when it came out. These are very special to me, and I bought them when maybe 50 people in the country were buying them. I also have all the classics that one should have with them.
